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It's More Than Israel

By Emily Yoffe
Posted Monday, Sept. 24, 2001, at 7:19 PM ET

Dear Mickey,

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In your piece you say you don't know whether the existence of Israel or the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia is the bigger factor motivating Osama Bin Laden's terrorist cadres. Bin Laden answered that question himself in his 1998 fatwa. In it he wrote, "to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim." He lists three reasons why: first, because of the presence of our troops in Saudi Arabia ("The Arabian Peninsula has never--since God made it flat, created its desert, and encircled it with seas--been stormed by any forces like the crusader armies now spreading in it like locusts."); second, because of our "continuing aggression against the Iraqi people"; and third, because we also "serve the Jews' petty state." Bin Laden hates Israel. But he hates us foremost for reasons that have nothing to do with Israel. And, of course, it is more than our policies in the Gulf that enrage Bin Laden. As George Bush pointed out, it is who we are and what we stand for.

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Mickey, you say that "resolving the Israel-PLO conflict would almost certainly remove a non-trivial amount of motivational fuel from the radical Islamic terrorist machine." I'm afraid that's wrong. Bin Laden wants to rid the Muslim world of the presence of any non-Muslim, and that does include the extermination of Israel. Peace negotiations presuppose Israel's continued existence. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians only feeds the terrorist machine. The New York Times quoted a friend of hijacker Mohammed Atta saying that this mass murderer was radicalized both by our presence--and that of our allies--in the Gulf, and by the Oslo peace process. By the peace process! Yasser Arafat understands the consequences of making peace. Unlike some of Bin Laden's minions, Arafat wants to live. Last year he walked away from an unprecedented offer from then-Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak. Arafat knew he could never sell real peace to the Palestinian terrorist groups he condones. Their mission is Israel's extermination.

If Arafat wasn't ready to reach a real peace accord before Sept. 11, he certainly isn't now. And what could be a clearer capitulation to terror than for us to pressure Israel to try to make one. The people who seek our annihilation will not be placated by some negotiations to halt Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Neville Chamberlain's attempts to placate Hitler only emboldened him. Real peace between Israel and the Palestinians is much to be hoped for. But pressuring Israel to make a deal now will only bring more unspeakable carnage to them and to us.

For Mickey Kaus's response, click here.

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